A total of 31,877 villages of the State are still awaiting electricity supply even after 67 years of Independence. This was revealed at a performance review meeting of the Energy Department chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday at the State Secretariat here. Out of the 47,677 villages, 3,924 have not been provided electricity while 27, 953 hamlets of the total 82,014 still await for the facility.
The Chief Minister directed the Energy Department to provide quality power supply to all the villages and hamlets by 2019. "There were 16 lakh electricity consumers in the State in 2000 which has increased to 58 lakh in 2015. We have estimated that the number of power consumers will touch 98 lakh in 2019," Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das told reporters after the meeting.
Das also stated that a target has been fixed to set 500 33/11 KV substations under the Odisha Distribution System Strengthening Project. At least 10 substations would be changed in a week from August, he said. The Chief Minister also stressed on renovation of the Gridco, implementation of the State Capital Region Improvement of Power System to ensure uninterrupted 24x7 power supply in the capital region, changing of 15,000 old transformers, use of solar power in interior areas, development of 166 power projects in the KBK area and uninterrupted power supply to tribal girls' hostels. Among others, Chief Secretary GC Pati and Energy Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra were present at the meeting.